A warm one. How do you cool down your...
 

doe or buck if you tag one in the 70s or 80s in September? Looks like it will be nice and warm here Saturday. I know that you should skin and quarter it and put it in a cooler ideally. But if you just have to keep it for a couple of hours before getting it to the processor, what do you do? I personally have put frozen milk jugs and ice bags inside the body cavity and draped over the hindquarters and that's seemed to work. Anyone do anything differently?

What you are doing is about all you can do if you have to transport any distance. We always try to get them caped ASAP too, because that hide/hair is your enemy in cooling them down. Will your processor accept them with the hide off?

About 4-5 years ago one of my younger cousins had the bright idea to go hunting when the temp was 78 degree's outside granted it was his 1st year hunting and he was itching to get out. I get a call on my cell phone about 9:30Am and he said he shot a doe from his stand which was about a mile walk intot he woods so I head on over to there place,,,,,,I have never been so miserable in my life as I was that day helping him gut and drag that deer out of the woods race over to get it registered race back home and get it skinned and quartered and then packed in the freezer.....from that day forward I will never shoot a deer when it's warmer than 65 outside...I'll probably go sit on Saturday morning and Sunday evening just because it'e the opener but the only thing I would even concider shooting will be a big 12 I have pics on my trail cam of everything is safe until the temps drop next week.


P.S - Southern hunters please don't jump on my back about this situation I realize it's probably warmer than it was that day where you hunt and I would assume you are used to warmer temps and prepared for it....it's just not for me.

Every year I shoot a doe or two during the summer under an agricultural damage permit. The farm I hunt is about 1 1/2 hours away. After registration, I buy 3 bags of ice. I put two inside the body cavity end to end and lay one across the shoulders in the back of my capped pickup on the way home.
When I get home, the deer goes onto the garage floor with the ice that's left and a couple of ice jugs from the freezer. She gets covered by a tarp and a couple of old blankets overnight.
She gets cut up right away the next morning. Typical temperatures in July/August are in the 80's during the day. I've treated the deer in this manner for several years and have not had one go bad yet.

yes i am worried about the same thing, last year I was hunting in 70 degree weather, and i was so confused about what i would do with the deer if i killed one. The processor closed at like 6 so it makes it almost impossible to get the deer to him after an evening hunt.

Someone told me they put salt in their cooler with ice and the melted water to get their beer colder faster. Has anyone heard of this and would it be a benefit to a quartered deer in hot weather? Just wondering....

Salt will make the ice melt faster, hence why we put it on the roads in winter. The water from the melted ice is only a couple of degrees above freezing. This will cool the beer quicker because it has more direct contact with the surface of the cans. This works in the short run but as more ice becomes water due to the chemical reaction with the salt you will lose ice faster and the cooler will not stay as cold if you were to have no salt with the ice.

I wouldn't recomend putting salt on the deer. Pack it with ice, wrap it with a tarp and keep it out of the sun and wind.

Our southern game laws allow for us to phone in our kills. The doe I shot Monday night was shot when the temp was over 80 (I'm sure). I let her lay for about 3 hours (due to the hit); recovered her in about 5 minutes....and had her qtr'd and on ice in less than 1 hour from recovery.

80deg? You're in a race.......but it's not as bad as many think.

I do the same but I also have some old sleeping bags and tarps I'll wrap the deer up into.

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For those of us in the northland that have either portable or permanent fishouses and need to keep a deer cooled down for awhile, putting a small air conditioner in it works great and will keep the deer fine for a day or 2 if need be. Taz

That's genius. And if you use your fish shack for a camping/hunting shack too it would make perfect sense to acquire a small one for those purposes. On a related note, maybe I could put it in the basement bathroom? The tile on the floor down there's cold with our air running right now. The dog would appreciate it too after he rammed the door down to get in there. I believe he'd be doing a dance like this. :barmy:

Funny...everyone out "east" worries about game....Here in CA..i have shot deer (key is to get them gutted quickly)...skin and hang....i have hung deer in 90 degree weather (during the day) and 55 or so at night for 2 days...then drive it home, 4 hour drive with the meat still on the bone out of the ice chest..cut it up at home and have NEVER had a problem.......but if you do that you need to make a pillow type game bag to keep the fly's off the meat.

think its just as easy to freeze sum milk jugs of water...and have em in a cooler in truck bed...if you get deer..your ready..if your dont....put back in freezer when ya get home

Butcher it yourself and get it in the freezer laid out so no packages overlap. I can have a walking deer butchered and packed away in the freezer within 4 hours of lettin the arrow fly. WCL

Never have really understood this one.

Exactly what meat are you trying to protect here - The loins ?

90 % of the edible meat is in the hams and shoulders - neither of which is helped by ice in the chest cavity.

Here in Florida we often kill deer when the temps are in the 90s !!!!

On a WMA it is often an hour or so before you can haul your deer out and get him checked in. -We can't gut one on a WMA till he is weighed and measured.

As soon as he is checked in we go to work on him.

Bar none the best way is to take 30 minutes to skin and quarter and put on ice.

I don't know what would be SO IMPORTANT that you couldn't do this.

That being said -

I have an old sleeping bag (Blankets also work).

Lay this in the bottom of your truck

Then spread a tarp over it

Put your gutted deer on the tarp

Put 4-5 bags of ice around the deer

Wrap him up with the rest of the tarp and blankets

Put another tarp over the whole deal.

Add additional ice every hour.

As others have said - The enemy is the hide/hair.

If you can't quarter him, at least skin him ASAP.

If not, the blankets and tarps work really well.

The 2nd tarp that you put over the whole thing probably adds 50% to the efficiency of this whole deal.

Good luck.

Im glad that we have a walk in cooler. We usually have it running most of the year because we also butcher cows and we get a few hogs a year. And we also let friends hang deer and other animals in it. Also keep beverages in it at the farm to.

7 bags of ice...
3 in the chest cavity.
1 on each outer shoulder and rump.

Then get it to the processor ASAP!

My plan is a few bags of ice. I figure i will vacum seal some water throw it in a small cooler and toss it in my truck.If i drop one i will walk to the truck get the ice and start tracking. Figure the walk will be in place of sitting waiting for the deer to die. But someone elsemight have a better idea.

"I don't know what would be SO IMPORTANT that you couldn't do this."

Actually, its because its SO IMPORTANT to my processor I not. They'd rather take care of the hide and do the cutting from the start. So its not a matter of laziness, but rather asking what others do who are in my situation, who have chosen not to cut it up themselves but rather want to take it to a processor. I suppose I could learn how but I choose not to at this point in my hunting. And I am happy with the job my processor does. Thanks for the replies guys.